The Laws of Human Nature with Robert Greene

Jun 25, 2019

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In episode 305, Robert Greene, author of the famous "48 Laws of Power", joined us in a conversation to discuss his latest book "The Laws of Human Nature". We dived deep in Robert's background and how he was inspired to write the "48 Laws of Power" and subsequently his other books that led eventually to "The Laws of Human Nature". We discuss how business leaders can learn to lead in difficult times and how to navigate the current climate of populism by understanding the laws of human nature.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

Robert Greene (@RobertGreene, LinkedIn), author of “The Laws of Human Nature”, “48 Laws of Power”, “33 Strategies of War”, “The Art of Seduction”, “Mastery” and “The 50th Law” with 50 cent aka Curtis Jackson. [0:19]
- How did you start your career? [1:03]
- What is the inspiration behind your first book “48 Laws of Power” and what is the lesson that you want the reader to understand from the book? [3:23]
- Are you surprised by the book’s popularity with the business community when it was first launched? [7:58]
- I often enjoyed the style of how you have presented your books with the principle followed by a story that illustrate the principle, does that mean to you that stories are the best ways to explain difficult concepts such as power, leadership and mastery to your readers? [9:41]
- Does the choice of historical examples help to have the reader to take detached view on the concepts? [12:21]
- What are the interesting life lessons you can share with my audience? [14:07]
The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene [15:44]
- How did you decide to write the book “The Laws of Human Nature”? [16:27]
- What are the major themes behind this book? [17:56]
- Are the laws of human nature immutable given that our history keeps showing that we often repeat making the same mistakes over and over again the same in essence but different in context? [21:10]
- Do you see that technology is an amplifier to the laws of human nature rather than an enabler that allows us to break out of them? [24:49]
- What are the three laws in the book that you believe are important to those who are in business? [26:58]
- It seems that the geopolitical landscape in the world is starting to shift significantly where most people are becoming more nationalistic and starting to prefer populism over facts, and wealth gaps disparity are getting bigger in the present, how does your book help us to understand the current world as it is now? [33:22]
- Do you think that there will be any more additional laws of human nature which you will insert into the book in the future? [36:36]
Closing [39:29]
- Can you recommend a book or movie or podcast or anything which recently made an impact to your work and personal life? [39:52]
  - Robert's recommendation: Alain De Botton's "The School of Life" podcast
- How can my audience find you? [41:02]

Podcast Information:

The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong & weibo) and are sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) with their new Altizen Desk (Twitter, Facebook, Medium). Sound credits for the intro music: Taro Iwashiro, "The Beginning" from Red Cliff Soundtrack and this episode is edited by Carol Yin, and co-produced by Carol Yin and Bernard Leong.